PGA Tour rookie Adam Svensson still living down that time he drove a golf cart into a lake

Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesAdam Svensson reacts on the 18th green during the first round of the 2019 Sony Open In Hawaii.

HONOLULU — Adam Svensson shot a career-best nine-under 61 to take one-shot lead after the first round of the Sony Open on Thursday. Of course the rookie’s career on the PGA Tour has spanned all of a dozen starts.

But the 25-year-old Canadian who won in the Bahamas on the Web.com Tour last year made a splash in golf long before that. Literally. Svensson was just a toddler when he drove a golf cart into a pond as his dad played nearby.

“My dad was teeing off, and I guess I decided to drive the cart right into the lake,” Svensson said. “I drove it into the lake, yeah.”

Naturally, Svensson’s dad made a bee line for the cart—to save his clubs—after his son had apparently hopped out of the cart.

“I think he got a putter or something, a driver out of there, but that was it,” Svensson said. “But [the cart] ended up sinking to the bottom.”

Svensson’s round on Thursday thankfully went much smoother. He made 164 feet of putts, including a 41-footer and another from 53 feet, and racked up seven birdies and an eagle en route to a bogey-free afternoon at Waialae Country Club, where his 61 was two strokes off the course-record 59 Justin Thomas shot two years ago.

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